Read the comments.

My name is Audrey McGaughey, and I serve as the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Modoc Nation. Our ancestral homelands in northeastern California and south-central Oregon include lands now managed as National Forest, and our people remain connected to those places today. The Modoc Nation wants to work with the Forest Service. We say that first because it is the heart of this comment. We understand why changes to the Roadless Rule are being considered. Many of our national forests are overgrown, and that overgrowth puts forests, wildlife, and communities at risk. Our people have always understood that land needs people. For generations, our ancestors tended these landscapes, and that relationship between people and the land is what kept them healthy. Active management, and the access it sometimes requires, can be part of restoring that relationship. We do not come in opposition to caring for the forest. What we ask is that this work be done in good faith, and with us. Roadless areas are some of the least surveyed lands in the National Forest System. They hold cultural sites, burials, and traditional use areas that have never been recorded. A road built without talking to us first can destroy something that cannot be replaced. A road planned with us can often go around it. That is the kind of practical problem-solving we want to do together. We respectfully ask that the final rule and Record of Decision guarantee the following: Meaningful government-to-government consultation with affected tribal nations before any road construction or ground disturbance is approved in a current roadless area. We mean real meetings, held early, where tribal input can still shape the route and design of a project, consistent with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (36 CFR Part 800) and Executive Order 13175. A commitment to avoidance first. Where a cultural site is identified, the agency and the tribe work together to route around it or find a better way before any other option is considered. Tribal cultural monitors present during ground-disturbing work, when a tribe requests them. Reporting and treatment of artifacts, sites, and ancestral remains in the way the affected tribe directs. Tribes know how we wish our ancestors and our places to be respected, and those protocols should guide the work, alongside NAGPRA and ARPA. Cultural surveys completed before decisions are made, with sensitive site locations kept confidential. Please do not be afraid to reach out. We are willing to talk, we are willing to meet, and we want to get things done. It is an honor to work alongside our federal partners, and we would much rather build that partnership than stand on opposite sides. Good consultation makes for better projects, healthier forests, and stronger relationships for everyone. Sepk'eec'a, Audrey McGaughey Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Modoc Nation